Friday, November 2, 2007

Visual telecom

Today is my daughter's birthday. She phoned me up this morning and suggested that we should get in contact through the free visual telecom system called Skype. I was rather surprised to find that it was so easy to use. Since my son François had dropped in at Emmanuelle's flat, I talked with both of them.

For anybody who's interested, my Skype name (that's to say, the address for linking up to me) is skyvington. It's preferable to contact me beforehand, by phone or email, to let me know the time at which I should activate the Skype system on my Macintosh.

My children provided me with a real-time visit of Emmanuelle's residence in Paris, which I had never seen before. At my end of the line, the tiny built-in camera on my Macintosh points in the direction of my bed, at the back of where I'm sitting. François commented upon the fact that, when they phoned me, around noon, I hadn't yet made my bed. This is likely to be the case quite often. If it were easy to do so, I would change the position of my desk so that the camera points out through a window in the direction of the mountains, which never look unmade.

2 comments:

"François commented upon the fact that, when they phoned me, around noon, I hadn't yet made my bed."

This is the reason why I refuse to use the "videophonie" facilities of my mobile phone, as well as a web cam. I go to bed late and, of course, I get up late in the morning. I enjoy reading the newspapers and answer my emails while I drink my coffee. I take my shower around noon. As I prefer not to be seen before I had my shower, I'll never use these modern technologies before 2 pm. Some people might find it a bit suspect - had I all these facilities - if I don't switch them on. Life is sometimes easier without all this modern stuff...

Your expression "never use these modern technologies before 2 pm" sounds like the title of a thriller. As for me, knowing that my children are capable of Skyping me of a morning, I've simply decided that I might at least arrange the scenery by combing my hair and making my bed as soon as I rise... which is not an unduly heavy multimedia production task. When I informed my rough-and-ready neighbor Bob [former rugby champion] that my children could visio-phone me through the net, he asked: "Is that one of those Internet porno gadgets?" For a moment, I didn't know how to reply to Bob. I glimpsed myself as a would-be actor in the Internet porn domain! From now on, not only would I make my bed of a morning and comb my hair, but I might even get around to baring my arse in the direction of my iMac whenever the phone rings! Terrible existential interrogation: Do I really, at the age of 67, wish to exploit the Internet to embark upon the career of a celebrated international porn actor?

About Me

After working in various computing jobs, I retired to an old farm property in the Vercors mountain range, on the edge of the French Alps, where I spend my time writing, playing with the Internet and looking out upon the slopes in the company of my dog Fitzroy, admiring wonders created by the Big Bang and Evolution.